Poulsbo police chief responds to drunk-deputy criticism

Poulsbo’s police department has come under fire ever since news of an off-duty deputy allegedly drove drunk through town, but was not arrested or charged.

Now, Police Chief Al Townsend is answering that criticism.

The Kitsap Sun reports that a Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office deputy was on the other side of the law when he allegedly drove drunk from a Poulsbo movie theater to his home just outside the city limits. But sheriff’s deputy Sgt. Jim Porter was not charged with a DUI.

The incident has had many calling foul on Kitsap law enforcement, including KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson, who called the deputy a “deadly threat.” Dori alleged that Poulsbo police are engaged in a “massive cover up” in the wake of the incident. He further said that there was an “abhorrent lack of judgment by every single person involved.”

Chief Townsend counters that the reality is far from a “cover up.”

“The last thing we want people to think is that he got some special treatment or that the three of us &#8212 officer Corn and I and the sergeant from the sheriff’s office &#8212 were concocting some plan to keep him from getting arrested, which was not the case,” Townsend said.

Poulsbo police received a call on Oct. 16 about a man who left the local movie theater and got into his Jeep in the parking lot. That man was later discovered to be Sgt. Jim Porter of the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office. But the initial responding Poulsbo police officer, Danielle Branes, did not know who the man behind the wheel was. According to Poulsbo Police Chief Al Townsend, Branes was a six-month member of the force and didn’t know many other officers in the area.

Branes has since left the department for unrelated reasons, according to the Kitsap Sun.

Branes offered to drive Porter home and recommended he throw his keys in the trunk while he waited in his car. She did not arrest him despite being heard on body camera video that she could smell alcohol on his breath.

“She handled the incident, at that point in time, like she would anyone else,” Townsend said. “It’s all very common practice for us when the car is not in motion &#8212 what we would call ‘not in physical control and safely off the roadway.'”

The reason for that, Townsend said, is that finding a person suspected of drinking too much behind the wheel in a parking lot is not reason enough to arrest because the case won’t be picked up by the prosecutor.

“It’s got to be a combination of things to make it a case that is going to be prosecutable,” he said. “In this case, none of those pieces come together.”

“It’s difficult if the officer does not observe the driver,” Townsend said, further commenting that even if a theater employee could point Porter out as the driver, it might not even help a case. “A police officer needs to see the vehicle in motion for a DUI and record some activities they saw with this person’s driving.”

But the initial police interaction is only the start of the controversy. About an hour and a half after Branes left the scene, according to Townsend, Porter drove himself home. Poulsbo police again got a call from the theater where employees noticed the Jeep was gone. Another Poulsbo police officer, Jennifer Corn, decided to follow the route Porter would have likely traveled from the theater to his registered address. She found him parked in his driveway, and realized she knew the man after working in law enforcement for many years.

Porter can be heard on video from Corn’s body camera saying that he did drive home. Even though he admitted he drove, Townsend said that it’s not enough.

“That’s getting into the nitty gritty of if they could charge that case,” he said. “Again, no officer saw him drive.”

Officer Corn called the sheriff’s office, who sent a sergeant. She also called Chief Townsend who responded to the scene. The case was turned over to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office because Porter’s home is outside the City of Poulsbo and under the county’s jurisdiction.

“If Officer Corn had followed him from the theater, she certainly could have arrested him, because she would have viewed him driving,” Townsend said. “Under these circumstances, she doesn’t see any of that. She is now at a county residence outside the city limits and sees his car in the driveway. For her to make assumptions about how the sheriff’s office would like to proceed are well beyond her pay grade.”

But that discussion isn’t heard on the body camera video. While discussing the issue with Townsend and the Kitsap sergeant, Corn turned off her body camera. It was a move that has drawn sharp criticism. But it’s also a move that Townsend said is common practice, mainly because when cops turn off cameras when issues of privacy come into play while discussing a case. It’s a practice common in police departments across the county, Townsend argues.

But for Dori, it’s an indication that law enforcement at the scene were not being transparent.

“We have no public record of what was said between the chief and the responding officer,” Dori said. “What you are hearing is the consideration of one cop for one of their own.”

Townsend regrets having the camera off. In the wake of incident the Poulsbo Police Department is considering changing that policy when dealing with people of influence, such as elected officials and off-duty law enforcement.